Listening to voices of children with a visual impairment: A focus group study

Jyoti Khadka, Barbara Ryan, Tom h. Margrain, J. Margaret Woodhouse, Nathan Davies

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

54 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify the educational, social and leisure activities and issues that matter to school children and young people with a visual impairment and to compare their lifestyle with fully sighted counterparts. Thirteen focus groups were conducted and the groups were stratified by age, gender, visual status and school location (urban and non-urban). The sessions were audio taped, transcribed verbatim, coded using NVivo software and a qualitative data analysis was carried out to identify the main themes. Eighty-one children and young people aged between 5–18 years participated in the focus groups; 34 were visually impaired (22 boys) and 47 were fully sighted (24 boys). In total, 121 different daily living activities important to children and young people were discussed in the focus groups. Results suggested that children and young people with a visual impairment have similar lifestyles to their fully sighted counterparts but are more restricted in some specific activities. The children and young people also reported that sometimes these restrictions were imposed by those supporting them rather than their own abilities. This information provided an in-depth understanding of the impact of visual impairment in school-aged children and young people.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)182-196
Number of pages15
JournalThe British Journal of Visual Impairment
Volume30
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished or Issued - Sept 2012

Keywords

  • Children
  • focus groups
  • impact
  • qualitative
  • visual impairment
  • young people

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ophthalmology

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